Who Is It For?

Week 2 Flashcards Preview

 What is the difference between Europe and America on the NvN debate in the

Europeans = nurture

North America = NAture

2

 Problems with a physical/mental division (Sack’s and Chimp examples)

Chimps show self awareness

A man who fell out of his bed was admitted to the hospital
He thought his leg had been replaced by a corpse leg
HIs actual body image was distorted due to the asomatognosia

3

 The essence of the NvN debate

The physical body and human mind are the same
Are these things separate or in parallel
*in bio pysch these things happen in parallel**
**Does human condition transcend physiology**
is behavior inherited or learned(to what degree can we parse to the two)

4

 Behavior as an interaction between 3 factors

1.) genetics
2.) Experience
our experience can influence which genes are expressed
does not influence what genes we are born with
but influences which ones are active
3.) subjective perception of the current situation
the matter in which we react to something

1. Fossil record
2.) Structural similarities between living species
3.) major changes in domestic plants and animals via breeding
observed durastic changes in a closed ecology based on what it took to survive

male birds must hear their species songs during a critical period or they develop abnormal songs (there is a genetic window where animals are more likely to be able to learn songs)

birds are also left side dominant (brocchies area and such)
birds and humans can grow new neurons in the hippocampus (where we can observe nuerotogensis in humans.
we share things with animals deep seated brain structures

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What is asomatognosia

damage to the right parietal lobe (exam question)

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PROBLEMS WITH CARTESIAN DUALISM

changes in the brain cause behavior and psychological changes
Some non-human species esp. primates possess abilities that were previously attributed to humans alone.

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Natural Selection

the animals that survive to pass on their offspring are going to do so
there are characteristics of the environment and organism that allow it to do so
these organism are promoted in nature due to their ability to survive

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Fitness

The degree to which an animal is best suited to its environment
ex. physical characteristics (long necks) behavioral (reciprocal altruism)

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SPANDREL

literally translates into left over.

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Neural Evolution

1.) size is nonadaptive by products
larger brains does not mean smarter
2.) MUSHROOM CAP
new parts of the brain are on top of older parts
it is useful to study rats and such because we have a lot in common with the evolutionarily older parts of the brain
3.) convolutions
Gyrus-outfolding of tissue
sulcus-infolding of tissue
**THESE CONVOLUTIONS INCREASE THE OVERALL SURFACE AREA OF THE BRAIN**

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Twin Studies

ex. Identical twins are more similar to each other than fraternal twins on all psychological dimensionsh

its been observed that fraternal twins who are not raised in the same environment show a moderate correlation in IQ (genetic component to intelligence

Identical twins show a strong correlation between IQs (indicates strong genetic contribution to IQ if nurture there would be a perfect correlation)

In identical twins those raised in an affluent environment showed a strong correlation (the degree to which ones environment is enriched demonstrates the relationship between nature and nurture)